Improvement in mechanical musical instruments



O. H. ARNO. Meohanioal Musical Instrument.

No. 2I3,160.

Patented Mar. 11, 1879.

N. PETERS. FMDTO-LITNDGRAPAER, WASmNGTON, D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER H. ARNO, OF XVILMINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Spccification forning part of Letters Patent No. 21 3,160, datcd Marchll, 1879; application filed September 7, 1878.

To all 'whom tt may cmcern:

Be it known that I, OLIVER H. Anno, of Wilmington, in the county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Mechanical Musical Instruments, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to musical instruments having reeds, &c., whichare made to sound by the use of perforated paper, or other suitablesheet material; and the invention consists of a novel mode of regulatingthe movements ot' the exhansters of the exhaust bellows, for theeXhaust-bellows to properly sound the reeds, as a inore or less numberof reeds is sounded at one and the same time, snbstantially asherei'after described; and it also consists in operatin g the swell by aspringfinger arranged to act upon said swell in a manner substantiallysimilar to its operation of said valve, all snbstantially as will behereinafter fully described and shown.

In the acconpanying plate of drawings the present invention isillnstrated, Figure l being, in part, a view in side elevation, and inpart a longitudinal vertical section; Fig. a side elevation, similar toDig. 1, ot' the bel lows and its conncctions, but with the several partsin different positions than as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a plan view;Fig. ei, a de tail view in vertical section on an enlarged scale; Fig.5, a horizontal cross-section online .oc w, Fig. l; Fig. G, a verticalcross-section on line y y, Fig. l; Figs. 7 and S, detail views insection.

In the drawings, A reprcsents a framework, of which B D' are uprightstandards, having feet a (i G, 0 and O cross-boards connecting the twouprights; and D D', side boards secured to uprights and cross-board Call serving as supports for and to carry the several parts belon gin gto this invention.

To the under side of the cross-board O is secured the eXhaust-bellows E,and on its upper side its two exhausters F F', all constructed andarranged as ordinaril y in recd-organs, and needing` no particulardescription herein.

To links I) on exhaustcrs F F are connected levers b 6 which are hnng inbcarings in block IP on under side of cross-board 0 and their otherends, bent at right angles, hook and turn in a movable block, c. A rod,d, conuects this block c with a block, Gr, which block G is connected byabar, d', to the under or moving board f of the eXhaust-bellows E. Thisblock is adaptedby a socket, g, to slide up and down on a substantiallyvertical rod, H, hung to cross-board 0 its other end being connected toa pitnairrod, 71, of a crank-arn, J. Turning the crank-arn J will,through these several eonnecting-rods, which are all adapted to turn intheir connections, operatc alternately the exhausters F and F', andthereby exhanst the bellows E, as ordinarily in the bellows ofreed-organs.

K is the wind-chest, in which is located the valve l of and opening toreed l'. This windchest K is properly connected by suitable airpassagesm in part m' to the exhaust-bellows E.

n is the push-pin to valve Z, which plays vertically in the upright n',its head a" extendiig upward into an opening, 0, in cross-board Abovethe board C and in line with the valve I, is a spring-finger, L, firnlysecured by one end to under side of a cross-bar, M, which bar is pivotedto the two upright side boards, D and D', said. spring L, by its freeend, bein g arranged to bear upon the head a" of pushpin 72.

The pivot 1 of bar M turns and is held in its socket p' in board D by aspring, p, the sockct at its side opening into a vertical slot, 9.Pressing the bar M back carries its pivot 1) against its spring 1) intothe lower end ot' ver tical slot 9, when it can be lifted out of saidslot and withdrawn from its hearing at its other end, and thus removedfroni the instrr ment. lteversing this operation willreplaee it. Thisarrangenent enables the bar M, carrying the spring-fin ger L, to bereadily removed froni and replaced in position, as desired.

The bar M, carrying the sprin gfin ger L, can be swung up and back outot' the way, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, and when down for thespring-iinger L to bear upon the pushpin, for the proper operation ofthe valve, itis there held by its spring-arni 1' catching on a hook orpin, a", on board D, as shown in Fi'g. S more particularly.

NN'are two drawing and pressure rolls, one, N, above the other, and bothtnrning in bear the bar M is secured in place 'by its springarm, thespring-finger L exerts a power greater than the spring Ic' to valve lfor it to overcome the resistance of said spring k in opening the Valve.

O is a strip of paper, having perforations u. To place this strip ofperforated paper in ;position, as shown in the (lrawings,torthe;purpo'se of playing a time, `&c., nnfasten the. spring-arm r tocross-bar M, and'turn the bar over out of the way, as shown inFig. l indotted liues,;pass the end ofthe papel-'under' the bar to and betweenthe drawing-rollsN N',and then, turning the 'bar over, secure it by itsspring arm r. The spring-hager, being held by the paper, is jprevented*from operating the 'push -pin,`the valve 'consequently being closedbyits spring.

Turning'the crank-arm in'theprope' direc tion works the bellows, through'its connections, hereinabove described,'for the necessary supply of airto reed'l' to sound it wh'enits valve is opened, andalso'revolves therolls 'N and N', drawing the perforated paper O along'to and underthespring-finger'L, an'd between it and the push-pin; and asa'perfora'tion'comes opposite to and over the'push-pinthe end of spring-fin ger L passes through the perforation, presses down the push-pin n,and opens the valvel to the reed, which allowsthe 'a'r to passthrough'the reed and sounds the same, the'reed continuing to soundas'long as the perforation is over thepush-pin.

As the paper continues to move, 'and'the the spring-finger is raised bythe paper,and thus the valve closedby its' spring, and 'the push-pin` thereby returned 'to its e proper place for another opening 'of the valve'when another perforation in the paper, as it moves, reaches it, asdescribed, and soon to the end of the paper strip.

Although the description hereinaboveggh en refers only to one reed andits acconpanyin g Valve, push-pin, andspring-fin ger, two setsare shownin the drawings; and it is obvious that aseries of' reedsand theiraccompanying parts, as above described, can be arranged, havingcorresponding lines of perforations in'the paperstrip, so thatany one ormore oft-h'e series ofreeds 'can be sounded, as above described, and,obviously, any tune or tunes played,i'provided the perforations in-thepaper are properly arranged therefor.

Similar spring-fingers, in combination'with perforated paper, can be"arranged in alike manuer to 'open and close the-swell, as"will 'now bedescribed.

In Fig. 4 .onanenlarged scale isshown*in section themanner of Operating&the swell;

`P is the swell, hinged to the reed-box at v, and held and closed by aspring, o'.

An arm, Q permanently attached by one end to the swell P, extends back,as shown' in -Fig.-4,'and byits end w projects up through an opening,w', in board C in the same horii -zontal plane, aud inlinewiththeopening 0 to'push-pin n.

Arrauged so that its free end can bear upon the end w of arm Q is aspring-finger, R, securely attached by its other end to under side ofcross-bar M.

In the present instance a second spring-fingcr, R', is shown, and thissecond one is ar: ranged to act upon an independent arm, Q, and bothacting independently of and separately from each other. r

' The; paper strip holds these spring-fingers R and 'R' up, and through,the1perforations they operate upon the arm :of the swell in .a similarmanner e to 'the spring-finger L upon the push-pin a of the valve l andwhen aperforationinjthe strip of paper, as itis moved along,as beforedescribed, comes opposite' to andoverthe end w of arni Q, thespringfinger 'R depresses the arm Qand opens the swell, which-continues openthe length o'flthe .perforation, and as the paper continues to move, andtheen'd ot' the perforation reaches 'the arm end w,'itsspring-fingerfiss raisetl by "thejpa-per, which allows the springv'toclose the swell.

The two spring fingers R and R' are i constructed so as to actdiii'erently upon theswell, as follows: The oneR',asit'issomtihesdesired to open and close the swellggradually, has itsbend in shape of an obtuse angle, as shown iu Fig. 4, so that the longinclines a a retard its downwar'd and upward movements through the.perforation i'nthe paper, and thus thes'well is opened andclosedgradually, according. as ..the *bend is -more or 'less y holdingtheswell open continuously the length of time 'desh-ed; 'for if only onespring-'finger were used, the paper, by the" length of the per foration,would ;probably not keep in place;

"but'one' spring finger might answer by having it arranged 'to operateneartheedge of the paper strip,:the edge being'cutaway-for the'perforation the' len gthfdesired.

"ments of the block G upon its 'Operating-ro&

H, as it slides up and down on it, and is very important, as'it obviatesthe necessity of the usual safety-valve ot' the bellows.

Then the instrument is playing, ifone or only a few reeds are sounding,the exhaustbellows E does not require to be exhausted so rapidly nor somuch as when a larger number of reeds are being sounded; consequentlyexhausters F and F need not make their full movements; but when morereeds are sounded-as, for instance, in playing full chordsthen thebellows must be exhausted faster and more completely; consequently theexhausters F and F' must operate to, or nearly to, their full extent, toexhaust suiliciently for all the reeds to sound properly whose valvesare open.

As the block G changes its position en the rod in traveling up and downon it relatively to the pivotal point of the rod, the arc of the circleiu which the block moves as the red swings back and i'orth by theturning ot` the crank is shortened and lengthened correspondin gi y, sothat the movements of the exhausters are deereased and iucreasedaccordingly through their connection with said block, and

this change ot' position ou the rod His aecomplished by the up-and-downmovements of the lower board,f, oi" bellows E, to which said block isconnected by bar d', said movements ot' the belloWs-board being causedby the varying number of reeds being sounded at different times, andconsequent change of the bellows to properly exhaust 'or the same.

lu Fig. l this hloel- G is shown at the lower end otrod H, which in themovements ot' the red would operate alternately the exhausters F F' totheir fullextent; but, as shownin Fig. 2, the block is at its highestpoint on the red, the exh aust-bellows being closed, or nearly so, andconsequently the exhausters would move but little at each time. Betweenthese two points on the rod H more or less movement would be given tothe exhausters as the block passes from one point to the otherin itstravel up and down on the "rod.

The necessary movements of the exhausters F F to properly exhaust thebellows E, aecordin as amore or less number ot' reeds are hein gsounded, are thus automatically and successful] y acconplished.

The arrangement ot' the spring-fingers L, in combination with apert'orated paper, cau be easily adapted and applied so as to operateupon the keys ot' a reed-organ, and in such case the spring-fingerswould actdirectly upon said keys, the keys taking the place ot' thepush-pins 5 or the push-pins could be arranged to press upon the keys ina similar manner to their operation upon the valves and, also, thespring-fingers, in combination with a perforated paper, can be arrangedto operate upon hammer-stems, whereby the hammers on the stems will bemade to strike metal plates, bells, wires, &e

I am aware that the combination of reedvalves having vertical push-plus,a perforated paper, and spring-fingers arranged above the perforatedpaper, and adapted to operate upon the upper ends of the push-pinsthrough the perforated paper, is not new; and, also, that the swingingbar carrying the spring-fingers is not new, and I do not broadly claimeither of these arrangements or inventions.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-- 1. The bar M, carrying spring-fingers L, whenpivoted to the side boards, D D', and by one end in a slottetl hearing,1)', and there held by a springcatch, so that said bar can readily beremoved from and replaced in its supports, substantially as and for thepurpose specified.

2. In combination with a swell, P, and per forated paper, spring-ngerslt, arranged to act upon the arm Q ot' said swell through theperforations in said paper, all constructed and arranged substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

3. The spri'g-nger It, formed with an ohtuse angle, for operation incombination with a perforated paper upon the swellP, substantially asand for the purpose described.

4. In combinatiou with a bellows, E, a block, G, arranged to travel onits Operatingrod by the movements of the bellows-board, so that saidblock Gr in such travel will automatically regulate the movements of theexhausters to exhaust the bellows, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

5. In combination with musical reeds, perforated paper O, drawing-rollsN N', springfingers L, push-plus 92 and valves Z to said reeds, when allconstructed and arranged to operate together substantially as described.

G. In combination with the exhausters F F the rods b b and d, block G,rod H, bar d', and exhaust bellows E, when all construct ed and arrangedtogether 'or operation substautiall y as and for the purpose specified.

DHE *Eit H. ARNO.

y Vi'ttnesses:

EDWIN W. BROWN, W. S. BELLows

